Facing a 2015 construction deadline and the uncertainty of a long court fight, the builders of a San Gabriel Valley light-rail project have agreed to pay a Monrovia property owner $24 million to settle six lawsuits related to a dispute over the price officials offered him for his land. Under the settlement, the Gold Line construction authority will give George Brokate of Excaliber Property Holdings his asking price for 4.8 acres in Monrovia that are needed for a maintenance yard for the Foothill extension, which will run from Pasadena east to Azusa.

The historic 1st Street bridge over the Los Angeles River is a key portal for thousands of commuters moving in and out of downtown Los Angeles. But when officials marked the reopening of the span Tuesday after a closure of more than three years for widening and rail construction, they spoke less about traffic than the cultural link between the city's core and neighborhoods to the east. "For more than 80 years, this iconic bridge has carried the dreams of millions of people traveling the short distance between Boyle Heights and Downtown L.A.," said Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar.

September 10, 2011 | By Dan Weikel and Ari Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles City Councilman Ed Reyes and two other elected officials have resigned from the board of the Gold Line light-rail project in the wake of a conflict-of-interest complaint sent to the state attorney general. In addition to Reyes, two alternates — Monrovia Mayor Mary Ann Lutz and South Pasadena Councilman Michael Cacciotti — have stepped down from the Metro Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority that oversees the San Gabriel Valley project. Reyes, who has denied any impropriety, left the board last month along with Lutz.

I have been castigated by readers who felt I over-dramatized the peril of riding L.A.'s subway system in my Saturday column about the fatal stabbing of a Red Line rider 11 days ago. "You're joking, right?" wrote Julia Tyson La Grua. "I rode the Gold, Red and Purple lines every weekday for 3 months when I was on jury duty in Koreatown and they were immaculately clean, prompt and I felt entirely safe. " But I was also scolded by readers who thought I soft-pedaled the risks that passengers face on the city's five subway lines.

A 33-year-old man was in critical but stable condition Saturday after being stabbed during what began as a fistfight on the Metro Gold Line as it traveled through Pasadena, authorities said. The violence Friday evening came on the heels of a fatal stabbing the week before on a Metro Red Line train. That stabbing also followed a fight and was the first slaying on the subway since it began operations in 1993. The latest attack took place aboard a northbound Gold Line train about 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Local legislators want to exempt officials of a San Gabriel Valley light-rail project from conflict-of-interest laws after a complaint was lodged last month with the state attorney general. Assemblywoman Norma J. Torres (D-Chino) and five colleagues have proposed a bill that would help five board members and two alternates of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority who have been accused of holding incompatible offices. State law forbids public officials from serving on multiple boards, commissions, city councils and other governing bodies with interests that are likely to clash.

July 29, 2011 | By Daniela Hernandez, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog

Riding the Metro could save you from more than just exorbitant tabs at the pump and the occasional fit of road rage. It could mean breathing cleaner air on your way to work. In a study of the air quality experienced by L.A. commuters, first place went to air collected on the Gold Line, which runs mostly aboveground. The Red Line, which runs underground, came in second. The air quality for both is likely better than you'll encounter if you're driving on the freeway, the authors said.

Thanks for Jane Engle's terrific advice on travel credit cards and ATMs, etc. ["Cash or Credit? It Depends," More for Your Money, Feb. 27]. I would add that you should travel with more than one card and/or options and backups. I once traveled with a tour group in which one couple, on arriving at the airport in Casablanca, Morocco, lost their only card in an airport ATM. They were also traveling with little cash. Fortunately for them, people on the tour helped them financially.

Their train had just whirred into the Little Tokyo station and stopped about 100 feet out ahead. Sisters Mary and Betty Sugiyama had a day of shopping planned. Both in their 80s, they weren't equipped to run like they did as youngsters, but they started to walk quickly. "I didn't think we could make it," Mary said. "But we decided to try. " They were almost there when Mary spotted a heavyset woman, dressed entirely in black, sitting alone on a bench near the tracks. As the sisters passed, the stranger suddenly leaped to her feet and shouted, then extended both arms and shoved Betty onto the tracks, police said.